Current-motor



w. H". THARP.

CURRENT MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20, I914. RENEWED OCT. 24, I919.

1,327,745. Patented Jan. 13, 1920.

Patented Jan. 13, 1920; 2 SHE ETSSHEET 2.

WILBER I-I. TI-IARP, OF LEWISTON, IDAHO.

CURRENT-MOTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 13, 1920.

Application filed July 20, 1914, Serial No. 852,122. Renewed October 24, 1919. Serial No. 333,059.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILBER H. THARP, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lewiston, in the county of Nez Perce and State of Idaho, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Current-Motors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to current motors, and particularly to that class of current motors wherein a drive shaft is provided with paddles, the paddles dipping into the current and the current causing the rotation of the driving shaft, means being provided for transmitting power from the driving v shaft to any desired machinery.

The primary object of my invention is the provision of a very simple, effective, and easily operated current motor of this type, which is adapted to be immersed to a greater or less extent in the water, depending upon the stage of the water at any particular time.

A further object of the invention is to provide a current motor with a plurality of paddle supporting arms, the paddles being so supported on the arms that they may be caused to always take a position parallel to the surface of the water, the inclination of the paddles relative to the paddle supporting arms being adjustable so that the motor may be used on banks or shores having dif ferent inclinations;

A further object of the invention is'to-so construct the paddles that they will float upon the Water where there is no great amount of current, but will be forced into a vertical operative position as soon as the current strikes the paddles with sufficient force.

A further object of the invention is to connect the'paddles to each other sothat the power transmitted to one paddle will be also transmitted to the next adjacent paddle and thus, distribute the power to a considerable extent around the series of paddles.

A further object is to provide means for bracing the paddle arms from each other so that the power transmitted to one paddle arm by the current may also be transmitted and. distributed around the other paddle arms.

A further object is to provide means whereby the power of the current may be transmitted-to a plurality of shafts to thus drive this machinery from the same motor.'

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description. i

My inventionis illustratedin the accom'- panying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is atop plan View of my mechanlsm;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View thereof; Fig. 3 is an elevation of one of the paddle blades and the adjacent portion of the pad-' dle arm;

Fig. 4; is an end elevation of the tion shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of one of the paddle arms showing the attachment of the brace rods; i v Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of constructhe construction shown in Fig. 5, to show the position of the brace rodsv with relation to each other; and a I Fig. 7 is a transverse section'through'the base of the guide-way.

Disposed upon the inclined bank of a stream or river is a 'guideway designated generally 2, which is preferably made of concrete, the guideway having a width greater than the width of the current motor and having oppositely disposed relatively broad, smooth track-like portions 3 and outer upwardly extending walls 4 which are provided at intervals with eyes 5.

Slidingly mounted upon Ithetraclr-like portions '3 and between'the'walls 4 is aframe which is designated generally 6 and includes the longitudinally extending members '7' which have immediate contact with the track-like portions 4L and slide thereon. This of radially disposed shafts '9, theses'hafts' i being disposed in a plane inclined to the horizontal. As illustrated there are four of these shafts 9disposed in angular relation to each other and each shaft is provided with a pinion'or gear wheel 10. Mounted.

upon'the' shaft 8 to rotate therearound is a gear Wheel 11, the under face ofwhich is provided with teeth which engage :with the teeth of the gear wheels 10." It will'thus be seen that a rotation ofithe gear wheel .11 will a cause the rotation of the shafts 9. These shafts 9 are operatively connected to trans mission shafts 12 in any suitable manner. Each of the shafts 9 is shown as formed in sections, the sections being connected to each other by universal knuckle joints 13. The shaft 9 which extends downward toward the lower endof the machine is shown as provided with a gear wheel '14 meshing with a bevel gear wheel 15 mounted upon a shaft 9 likewise provided with universal or knuckle joints 13 so that the direction of the shaft may be changed.

I do not of course wish to limit myself to any particular form of flexible shaft, but have illustrated the knuckle jointbetween the sections simply as showing one form of flexible shaft. Preferably the shaft sections 9 are connected to the transmission shafts 12 by means of a telescopic joint so that the supporting frame of the current motor may be raised or lowered without disconnecting the transmission shafts 12 from the motor. Of course any other suitable mechanism to this end may be used.

For the purpose of raising and lowerin the frame supporting the current motor, T

provide the upper ends of the beams 7 with pulleys l5 and attach cables 16 to any pair of eyes 5, these cables passing downward 4 and around the pulleys 15 and then passing up along the guideway and being attached to a capstan or windlass designated 17 Pulleys 18 are also provided upon the guideway at the lower end thereof, and cables 18 are attached to the lower end of the beams 7 passing around these pulleys 19 and then up and around the windlass 17, these cables 18 being reversely arranged upon the Windlass to the cables 16. It will thus be seen that as the Windlass is rotated in one direction the supporting frame of the motor will be drawn'downward, and as the Windlass is rotated in the opposite direction the supportin frame will be drawn upward.

ounted upon the wheel 11 and extending radially outward therefrom are a plurality of paddle supporting arms 20. These arms are made of different lengths according to the current to be utilized and may be made of any suitable material. The arms are supported and reinforced, and the strength of the individual arms combined in effect by rods 21 extending from paddle arm to paddle arm. Each rod, as illustrated in Fig. 5 passes through a pair of paddle arms, the ends of each rod being screw threaded and provided with nuts 22. Hingedly mounted upon the extremityof each paddle arm is a paddle 23. Preferably each paddle 23 is inged to a supporting member 24 by hinges 25 and this supporting member 24 is hinged to the extremity of the arm 20 by a hinge or other suitable means designated 26. The inner end of the paddle is held in adjusted position with relation to the paddle arm by means of a yoke or bail 27 which is perforated, as at 28, for the passage of a securing pin, this yoke or bail embracing the paddle arm as illustrated in Fig. 2.

The hinging of the member 24 to the outer end of the paddle arm is necessary in order that the paddle may be supported in such angular relation to its arm that the whole surface of the paddle will be immersed when it dips into the water, as shown in Fig. 2. As illustrated in Fig. 4: the paddle is adapted to swing by the hinges 25 in a direction reverse to that of the arrow in Fig. l but is held from rotation in the opposite direction, and each paddle is connected at its lower edge to the next successive paddle arm by means of chains 29 or other flexible connections. The effect of this construction is that as the current strikes the paddle, pressure on the upper portion of the paddle will be transmitted to the arm and will force the arm forward while these chains or other flexible connections 29 transmit the forward pressure on the lower part of the paddle to thenext adjacent paddle arm. Furthermore, when any paddle has moved forward in circular movement to where the current ceases to press the paddle forward, the. hinged paddle will float upward out of the water and thus no water will be forced up the shore line. Only when the current presses the paddle does it move downward to a vertical position.

Preferably the arms 20 are provided with rollers 30 which bear upon a circular track 31 operatively mounted upon the base of the machine or the framework thereof by brackets 32 to thus support the arms but permit them to move easily.

The operation of my invention will be obvious from what has gone before. The current successively catches the paddles of the several arms and rotates the gear wheel 11. The gear wheel 11in turn transmits its motion to the several shafts 9, the power of these shafts being transmitted to the shafts 12 and by these shafts to any suitable mechanism on the shore located at different distances from the wheel as it ismoved up or down the guide-way to meet the changing elevation of water in the stream. Thus power is obtained from this machine at any one of four places and it is obvious that different pieces of machinery may be 0 erated by the different shafts, or that di erently right angles to the guideway, radially clirected arms carried upon the shaft and extending parallel to the base and blades! hinged to the ends of said shaft for vertical adjustment into angular relation to the corresponding arm, and means whereby the blades may be held in angularly adjusted relation, said blades being mounted for swinging movement transversely of the arms.

2. In a current motor, a base inclined to a horizontal plane, a shaft extending at right angles to the base, radial arms carried upon the shaft, members hinged to the ex tremities of the radial arms and extending inward therefrom, blades hinged upon said members for movement transversely to the arms, said blades being buoyant, yokes extending from the free ends of said members to the arms, and means passing through the yokes whereby they may be engaged with the arms to hold the hinged members and blades in angularly adjusted relation to the arms.

3. In a current motor, an inclined guideway, a base mounted thereon for movement up and down the guideway, means for raising and lowering the base, a shaft mounted upon the base extending perpendicular thereto and at an angle to a vertical plane, radiating arms carried upon the shaft and extending parallel to the base, members hinged to the extremities of said arms for vertical movement, means whereby said members may be vertically adjusted, buoyant blades hinged to and depending from said members and vertically adjustable there with, each of said blades being movable in a direction reverse to the direction of motion of the arms, and flexible connections from the free edge of each blade to the next rearward arm for transmitting the power of said blade to the said arm.

4. In a current motor, an inclined guideway, a base mounted thereon for movement longitudinally of the guideway, a shaft ex tending upward from the base at right angles to the plane of the base, a current wheel rotatably mounted upon the shaft and having blades, a gear wheel loosely mounted upon the shaft and having gear teeth on its under face, the arms being operatively connected to the gear wheel for coincident rotation therewith, a plurality of radiating shafts mounted upon the base, each having a gear wheel with which the first named gear wheel engages, and means for transmitting power from the second named gear wheel.

WILBER H. THARP. Witnesses:

LAURENCE E. ONnrim, FINIS BENTLEY. 

